The personnel of the Southfield Fire Department face challenges unique to their location but remains on the leading edge of fire fighting technology.

The Southfield Fire Department covers an area with resident population of around 71,000 that grows to nearly 200,000 during the day. The number of high-rise buildings invites a unique scenario for firefighters as well, necessitating a high level of training in fighting high-rise structural fires.

It's also the busiest department in Oakland County, according to Chief Keith Rowley, with five stations covering more than 28 square miles and 95 personnel involved in 12,638 fire and medical emergency runs in 2012 alone.

Rowley, who was recently appointed to the position in October, said that despite financial cutbacks to emergency services across the board, the department is still striving to maintain exceptional service to the community.

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"We excel in our rapid response and our customer service and the advantage we have of really excellent support from the community and administration," he said. "They understand the importance of the fire department and they work with us creatively to make sure we have the resources and training that we need to provide our high quality service to the community."

"I have some of the greatest personnel," he added. "That goes to our hiring practice here over the long run. We set high requirements and make sure they're trained properly."

The department has been on the leading edge of instating new practices and technology, Rowley said. It made the first fire-based emergency medical run, a task usually taken care of by private EMS companies.

"It's funny when you hear instructors talk about early days of emergency medical services," he said. "They'll point out that Southfield was it; they're the ones that broke the ice."

Rowley recently put out a bid for four new ambulances or "life trucks" as the department calls them. The current fleet, which is nearly seven years old, has anywhere from 130,000 to 170,000 miles on each truck. The department made around 10,000 medical runs in 2012 alone.

"These are emergency vehicles and they have to be in top-notch condition all the time," he said, adding that several of the current fleet would be relegated to backup duty. "We work pretty intensely on keeping those maintained properly and in excellent running condition."

In recent years, the department has focused on the education of its personnel, pushing them to attain at least a bachelor's degree in a field that's becoming increasingly technical.

"It lifts the whole fire service up and makes it a more professional organization," he said. "Over the last ten years, we've really embraced that philosophy."

It's not just about educating its own personnel, either.

"A lot of people in politics and the administration, you have to let them know why you need certain pieces of equipment," he said. "They've never used it, they don't understand what it's for. It's almost like a show and tell."

Firefighters use cutting edge technology both in the field and during training, adopting thermal imaging systems to better locate victims trapped in a fire and most recently making use of a driving simulator to improve firefighters' driving capabilities. A state of the art training field sits behind the department's headquarters at Station 5 which contains subterranean tunnels, manholes, trenches, a building collapse simulator and television and radio towers.

"When you have something that you're doing almost everyday, you have to critique and review it," he said, "but you don't have to train as much as those things that are high-risk, low frequency. The less you do it, the more you have to train."

"We do pride ourselves on staying current, not only on the medical aspect but also our fire ground activities too," said firefighter R.J. Charby. "We're a very lean fire department doing more with less, but we're still giving that 110 percent to the citizens and visitors of Southfield by just staying current."

It takes dedication and that's what firefighters are all about, Rowley said.

"Firefighters are a unique breed," Rowley said. "They don't do what they do for a paycheck; they do it out of love for the occupation. It's hard to explain. It's almost like a calling when you get into it."

"I couldn't have asked for a better, more rewarding career," he added. "That's a pretty cool thing to say when you're in your 35th year. I'm honored to serve the citizens of Southfield as their chief."

The residents of Southfield appreciate the service as well, as evidenced by their support of keeping the fire department's funding steady.

"I would really like to throw a thank you out there to the citizens that overwhelmingly voted for our millage to keep the fire department's numbers where they're at," Charby said, referencing the millage vote in 2011 that was passed by a staggering 82 percent. "Everyone was blown away by it. We call 60 percent a landslide, but we've never had it that high."